Please Notice (Is It Weird verse)
by A-Simple-Rainbow
Summary: t makes Blaine pause for a second. He opens his mouth a couple of times before he manages to say, seeming entirely breathless by the concept, "We're really very adult now, aren't we?" Kurt thinks about it for a moment. "It's a little bit scary, isn't it?" Blaine shrugs, drops his voice to a whisper and settles a warm, steady hand on Kurt's waist. "Maybe it'll be fun."


**April, 2021**

 **From Tina:** Hello, Bee! How are you? My mom is going to invite you two to come here but I want to be the one inviting you. Greetings, Alice.

 _From Blaine:_ Hey Ali. Why are you stealing your mom's phone again? We talked about this, she doesn't like it.

 **From Tina:** Hello, Bee. That is only because I texted her old bald ugly boss that time last month. But I'm big now, I'm not stupid anymore. Greetings, Alice.

 _From Blaine:_ Even so. You should ask her permission to use her phone.

 **From Tina:** Hello, Bee. Whatever, are you coming for dinner or not? Greetings, Alice.

 _From Blaine:_ I'm afraid the invitation has to come from your mom or your dad, sweetie.

 **From Tina:** Hello, Bee. No! If the invitation comes from me then you two have to spend your time with me and not with them! AND mom just said she's going to call you. She's looking for her phone. Greetings, Alice.

 _From Blaine:_ Well, if she agrees of course we'll come over. And we'll keep in mind that you invited us first. ;)

 **From Tina:** Hello, Bee. Thanks! I have to give the phone back before she notices I took it. Greetings, Alice.

 _From Blaine:_ See you later, alligator.

Kurt drops his keys in the bowl and starts shrugging off his coat as he enters the apartment. He's soon met with the sight of Blaine sitting on the couch clad in briefs, as he's prone to do when stuck in the process of songwriting, phone in hand, smiling as he types something, and completely ignoring the portable keyboard he uses when he wants to work in the living room and dozens of paper sheets strewn everywhere. He immediately feels better – it's one of his favorite sights, for many different reasons.

"Who are you texting?" Kurt smiles as he finishes taking off his coat and drapes it over the arm of the couch on his way to Blaine.

"Ali." Blaine chuckles softly, stretching up for a kiss. "She stole Tina's phone again."

"Oh," Kurt takes Blaine's phone from his hand, as he lets himself all but slide into place next to his husband. "Mike just called asking us-Holy shit. She's a first grader, she's not supposed to write like this, is she?"

Blaine laughs under his breath as he reaches to collect a few of the papers. "She is the product of two high school valedictorians," he shrugs calmly.

"Ugh," Kurt twists his nose. "Is it horrible that I dislike how grown up she is? The other day there was this baby clothes catalogue at work and all I could think about was how much I wanted her to have had those."

Blaine smiles softly as he looks at him for a moment. He leans forward and kisses Kurt. "It's not horrible," he says.

"Is it horrible that I think she's getting less adorable by the day, and sometimes I just want to sew her mouth shut because honestly, she was so much cuter before she could talk…?"

Blaine smiles a little wider and shakes his head slowly at Kurt's silliness. "That's a little horrible. But a little understandable too, I think," he says. "I don't blame you for it."

"Thank you."

Blaine just nods and then, he turns to his piano and plays a simple melody, and hums out a nice little tune with no words, yet.

"I like that," Kurt tells him, dropping to his side and curling up until he has his head on Blaine's lap and his hand on his knee with a thumb going softly back and forth over it.

"Thanks," Blaine says and continues.

With his eyes closed Kurt relaxes and unwinds completely from his day at work. It wasn't particularly difficult or stressful, but Kurt could be coming home from a day at the spa, and laying down on the couch, enveloped in Blaine's scent and music and it would still get him to relax further.

"So, Mike called wanting to know if we wanted to come over for dinner, right?" Blaine asks once he finishes with a silly flourish.

"Yeah." Kurt nods, and keeps his eyes closed when he feels Blaine's fingers digging into his scalp.

"I should go take a shower and put some clothes on then," he sighs calmly, taking his hand out of Kurt's hair and patting his head lightly.

"Hmmm, no!" Kurt says, "I think you look great in these briefs." He hooks a finger under the elastic and snaps it.

Blaine laughs quietly, but doesn't stay. He slides carefully from his seat and leaves Kurt to curl up on the couch, falling straight to sleep at the sound of Blaine's bare feet padding across the floor, towards the bathroom. The last thought he manages before drifting to sleep is that Blaine sounds a little tired as well.

He's awoken with a small tap to his butt and a cloud of freshly applied cologne half an hour later. He yawns but pushes himself to sit and contemplates his now completely wrinkled shirt. "Let me just change the shirt."

He shuffles out of the living room, which is back to its usual pristine state, no sign of the keyboard or the mess of papers, which means Blaine let him nap through the process of tidying up.

"What kind of wine should we take, do you know?" Blaine calls after him, already opening the door to the wine cabinet. "Did Mike say anything about that?"

"It's Friday, bring all of it!" Kurt jokes, unbuttoning his shirt on the way to the bedroom.

"Yes, all sixty something bottles of it." Blaine calls back. "One red and one white, and let's not kid ourselves, only about half of one will be consumed tonight."

Kurt winces to himself as he shrugs it off. "We're getting lame. It's Friday night, and all I want is a nice quiet dinner with our friends and turning in early with you. We're not even thirty, yet!"

Blaine leans on the doorframe to the bedroom, watching Kurt peruse his options in the wardrobe with a soft smile and eyes that glint with something warm and happy. "I see nothing wrong with that."

"I don't even want sex, Bee…"

Blaine chuckles. "I see something a little bit wrong with that."

Kurt spares him a quick grin before he grabs a comfy pink flowery jumper and shirks his slacks exchanging them for his favorite, most comfortable jeans.

"It's fine, though," Blaine says calmly. "We can leave that for tomorrow morning, I don't mind."

Kurt finishes buttoning up his jeans and hurries over to kiss him. He pulls back, opens his mouth and doesn't fight the words that bubble up randomly inside his chest. "I like you."

Blaine laughs, eyes going crinkly around the edges, practically disappearing in his grin, "I like you, too."

It's different from saying I love you. Less dramatic, sometimes even a little happier – more refreshing. Kurt likes to do it, sometimes. Blaine always laughs, too, which is a big plus.

They kiss again, quick and silly, with Kurt "mwah"'ing all over the place, before they head out, walking to Mike and Tina's, holding hands. Kurt likes the feel of Blaine's wedding ring cold against his own skin, and makes a mental note of starting to brainstorm something to give Blaine for their wedding anniversary.

Some days Kurt just really, really likes the comfort of having Blaine in his life, like this super warm, fuzzy blanket he can just curl up with and… _be_. Today is one of those days, where he's just taking stock of all of those lovely small things and letting them fill his insides with this sort of weird, pink, bubbly feeling.

He walks a little closer and Blaine just answers with a knowing smile before continuing with his soft-spoken tales of not finding quite the right theme for the melody he'd been writing. Kurt knows Blaine doesn't point it out for fear of scaring these days away, but he absolutely loves and thrives on the days that Kurt comes home craving him – not necessarily in a sexual way. But definitely in a loving away. It's not that Kurt is usually distant or cold, he just runs at a speed slight different than Blaine's and sometimes it disconnects a little, and for those days they've now had years of practice and know just how to push through them (Blaine gives him the space he needs and doesn't take it personally, and Kurt holds him a little harder and tighter when he comes back to him), and other days it connects perfectly. Today is one of the latter.

At least for Kurt, it is. The way his body is drawn to Blaine's, the way his eyes are trained on Blaine's, and every nuance of every word is taken in with avid thirst.

"Are you okay?" Kurt asks halfway there.

"Yeah." Blaine frowns, glancing at Kurt with some confusion. "Why?"

"You seem a little… mellow," Kurt shrugs. "Not upset or anything, but just… mellow."

Blaine's answering smile is, well, mellow. "I believe that mellow can be defined as happy, but in a calm and relaxed manner." He waves his hand in a smooth and soothing gesture.

Kurt rolls his eyes and squeezes his hand. "Well, my mistake, I meant it as calm but kind of melancholic…?"

Blaine ponders the idea. "Melancholy implies sadness. I'm not sad."

"Good." Kurt says.

Blaine's smile turns a little brighter and he chuckles before taking advantage of their joined hands and pulling Kurt's arm around his shoulders.

By the time they get to Tina and Mike's, Kurt is significantly recovered from his accidental nap, and a little more capable of social interaction. Still, he suspects, Blaine is going to do most of the talking and he'll be leaning his chin on his hand and watching everyone with a ridiculously dopey, happy smile.

Tina opens the door grinning, and immediately bursts out laughing as she takes the bag with the wine bottles from Blaine's hand. She doesn't explain it, but she hugs them both tightly.

Alice comes barreling in from her bedroom, and throws her arms around the first set of hips she can find – Kurt's, who snorts slightly, rubbing her hair affectionately. "I have missed you, too, since I last saw you four days ago."

She squints up at him and then directs her affection towards Blaine, who ducks down to kiss both her cheeks soundly. "Thank you for your invitation, Ali."

She grins, looking up and practically bending herself in half to do so once Blaine has straightened back up. "Thank you for coming, both of you." She takes both their hands and starts pulling them towards the couch.

Mike high fives them both as he passes with a stack of plates. Kurt stands to go help set the table, but Alice grabs his hand and pulls him back down, " _I_ invited you first."

And so, biting his chuckles, Kurt stays, Alice sitting happily between them and telling them all about her week with no need for prompting.

When dinner is ready, Blaine and Kurt are finally allowed to share their attention with the other adults, and the five of them sit around the table, Mike serving a delicious looking lasagna. Once everyone is served he grabs the red wine, with a wide, excited smile.

He makes a show of tilting it towards Tina. "Would you like some, _baby_?"

She makes a show of looking around the table, before she puts her hand protectively between her glass and the bottle. "Oh, no. I can't, _baby_."

It takes a moment to land. But when it does Kurt and Blaine gasp and hurry to get off their places and hug Tina and Mike, who laugh heartily.

"What?! How did they guess? I didn't tell them, mommy, I swear I didn't!"

Tina leans over and squeezes Alice's hand. "I know, honey, you were very good. But they're very good at guessing, too."

"How far along?" Kurt grins, as he sits back down, heart still thumping wildly, cheeks flushed and grin impossible to wipe off.

"I'm three months pregnant. We wanted to wait to be sure everything was alright."

"Oh my god." Blaine takes both hands to his cheeks. "I'm so happy for you guys!"

"Ali! You're going to have a baby brother or sister!" Kurt gasps. "How exciting is that?"

"Finally…" she says with an aggravated expression. "To be honest, it might have come a little too late. I have no idea how to play with babies. I wanted a sister that could play with me. But I guess this is better than nothing."

Kurt fights his laughter while Blaine just says, "This is wonderful!"

Kurt doesn't get his early night, though. Instead, after dinner's been finished and Alice sent to bed, they have a repeat of Tina's first pregnancy announcement, with Mike, Blaine and Kurt taking care of the wine well into the night, while she accompanies them in giddiness alone. This time none of the happiness is laced with fear or apprehension, though, and the excitement over a new tiny baby to dote over is boundless. Blaine ends up singing silly little songs to Tina's still somewhat flat belly (although the lack of flatness has little to do with the pregnancy and more to do with comfort) before Kurt decides that they've hit rock bottom for the night and hauls him up.

They stumble back home amidst giggles, stopping several times to hold each other upright and steal kisses. Blaine pushes Kurt hard against a wall in an alley and kisses him deeply and they barely manage to remember that sex is not supposed to happen in the middle of dirty New York alleys.

When they're back in their apartment, Kurt drops on the bed with a huff and looks up as Blaine crawls over to him and over him, a little clumsy but laughing, "So you still want to wait till morning?"

Kurt lets his smile grow, slow and impish. "Both. Both is good."

"You need to lay off tumblr, love." Blaine says before he kisses him, blocking any response Kurt could've given him.

Strangely, that night Blaine is all about softness and tenderness. It's not usually like that when sex is peppered with alcoholic giddiness, but Kurt's not about to complain, because it's how he's been feeling all day, anyway. He just wishes he could understand the words he feels behind Blaine's kisses. Maybe, if he wasn't drunk, he'd ask, but he is, and he's just enjoying the poetry of the moment as it is.

In the morning Kurt wakes up to a careful hand pushing his hair back and a murmured good morning.

He blinks one eye open, there's not a lot of light, so the shades must be drawn and he thanks the heavens.

"Are you hung over, love?" Blaine asks in a whisper, crouched down right in front of him.

Kurt nods.

"Okay," he receives a compassionate pout. "There's a tall glass of water on the bedside table you should drink, an aspirin and a couple of pancakes, okay? I'm going to go have a late brunch with Wes, okay?"

Kurt frowns. "What about both sex?" he mumbles, and then frowns deeper. That sentence didn't make that much sense, did it?

Blaine laughs, runs his fingers through his hair again. "I don't think you're in shape for that, Kurt." He kisses Kurt's cheek. "I would totally do it despite your greasy hair, and eye gunk and monumental drunk person's morning breath, but I draw the line at mostly unconscious and unfit for consent, okay?"

Kurt finds it in himself to chortle and nods, turning around and pulling the bed covers over his entire body, head included. A hand pats his butt over the covers and he hears Blaine's goodbye and a reminder to take the aspirin.

Two minutes later he musters up enough energy to take it and go back to sleep.

He thought he'd been just on the deep side of tipsy last night but apparently not. He wakes up again at 2pm, feeling much better and rearranging his memories and impressions of last night to realize that Blaine was the tipsy one and he was the drunk one, not the other way around like it had felt at the time. He eats the cold pancakes while walking around the empty apartment trying to think of something to do. Eventually he just gives up and sits down in front of the TV, flips it on a documentary about the British Royalty and calls Rachel to catch up.

Apparently she's been informed of the upcoming baby, and is just as excited as them. He ends up telling her to come over bearing gifts in the form of greasy food and she accepts. So, Blaine returns home after six pm to find the two of them still picking at their Chinese food and browsing the internet for cute onesies with witty phrases on them and joins them for a bit, before silently picking up the empty food cartons and taking care of the small mess in the living room's coffee table and in the kitchen, and then retiring to his writing room – the one he barely ever uses except when he wants to write music but Kurt has visitors over and so the living room is mostly off-limits.

Once she leaves, far later than originally planned, Kurt goes over and leans on the doorway. Blaine's scratching something and re-writing, but when he finishes the word he's currently writing he turns to Kurt.

"Is she also still pretending they're not screwing?" Blaine smirks.

"Oh yeah!" Kurt nods. "Nope, not a peep. But at least this time she didn't practically yell when she pulled out a case file folder that was not her script – however similar it looked – and had Wes' name on it, and proceed to sprawl it all over the floor in her haste to shove it back in her bag, all the while prattling some pretty pathetic excuses."

Blaine smiles, "That's because they stayed at her place tonight. He reeked of overpriced berry-scented shampoo."

"Pun intended?"

Blaine chuckles and covers the piano keyboard, before standing up. "We should tell them everyone already knows. Because they suck at playing hide and seek, and it's exhausting just to watch them do it."

"I think it's entertaining." Kurt says, holding out his hands for Blaine's and taking the lead towards the bedroom.

"I just don't get it, why won't they tell us? We're their best friends," Blaine says, looking less amused and a little hurt.

Kurt considers it for a moment as he opens the bed and pulls their pajamas out from underneath the pillows. He hands Blaine's his, and starts taking off his clothes. "I don't know. I mean… maybe they just don't want to put pressure on it so soon."

"Why would-"

"Have you looked at our group of friends? Everyone's been paired off and practically married since college or sooner," he smiles fondly at Blaine who blushes slightly, as they continue to undress and redress. "It's intimidating for a couple of people who're trying to figure it out. And it's not like dating someone from outside the circle, where if they break up we just don't invite that person to dinner parties anymore… What do you expect out of their relationship?"

Blaine bites his lip. "Honestly? I expect it to be it."

"Exactly. When you date within your circle of friends, everyone suddenly expects that to be it for you – and what if it's not?"

"Okay. Yeah, you're right…" he nods, conceding as he heads to the bathroom.

"They probably just want to have fun without…"

"Us cooing over how cute they are, and jamming fingers in their faces saying 'I knew it' or treating it like the next wedding waiting to happen."

"Because let's face it…"

"It's totally what's going to happen if they ever come out with it."

Kurt smiles and nods. Blaine climbs onto bed, all the way to Kurt's side and waits for him.

"You're very wise, Mr. Hummel," he grins. "But just in case we should start writing the speech for their wedding reception."

Kurt laughs and pushes lightly at his shoulder and settles onto his lap. "I don't know. I think they're cute and all, and I guess I hope it works out, but they're very, very different as well."

"Noooo!" Blaine frowns. "Do not destroy my ship!"

"I mean – I think they're right for each other for now – Rachel needs someone calm and uncomplicated, and he needs someone who will get him to just… open up. But… I honestly don't see it going the distance because at some point their, huh, _colossal_ differences in everything from temperament to interests will just catch up to them."

Blaine scrambles from beneath Kurt and buries himself beneath the covers. "Stop it! I don't want to hear your wise logic. They're meant to be! They're my OTP."

"And I'm the one who needs to lay off tumblr?!" Kurt sniggers, "Anyway, they're so not your OTP. They're new and exciting, that's all."

Blaine pokes his head out with a sheepish smile. "You're right. _We're_ my OTP."

Kurt can't help the grin and the laugh that break out of him and he slips into the covers next to Blaine. "Good. I'm glad we're on the same page, there."

"So, we're just going to keep pretending we have no idea they're doing the dirty and when it eventually ends, as foreseen by you, we're still going to not say anything unless they do, because this isn't high school and we're not invited to comment and meddle on our friends' lives unless they invite us to?"

Kurt nods. "It's the adult thing to do."

It makes Blaine pause for a second. He opens his mouth a couple of times before he manages to say, seeming entirely breathless by the concept, "We're really very adult now, aren't we?"

Kurt thinks about it for a moment. "It's a little bit scary, isn't it?"

Blaine shrugs, drops his voice to a whisper and settles a warm, steady hand on Kurt's waist. "Maybe it'll be fun."

Sunday morning, Kurt is, miraculously, the first to wake up. He lays in bed for a little while, wondering about what he could do with his day, before he slides out of bed and decides to go get a few house chores done. He's gotten home late-ish this week, and he kept putting his chores off to the weekend. It'll be a nice change, waking Blaine up with a nice breakfast and a pristine kitchen for once.

Only, when he gets to the kitchen it's already pristine. He grinds his teeth and breathes through his nose, directing a glare to the ajar bedroom door. Yes, you might think he would be happy that he does not, indeed, have to clean and tidy up the kitchen like he's supposed to do every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Sunday. You might even think that he'd be happy to find, upon further inspection, that all of his own laundry has been ironed, folded, and put nicely away, and that the guest bedroom has been thoroughly vacuumed and dusted, like every single other room of the house and somehow there's no cat hair anywhere.

But he was not.

This is a recurring theme, and one who remembers the great big fight of January, 2018, knows better than to assume Kurt would be happy about this. He thinks of it, like a veteran soldier thinks of a particularly tragic day in battle. They'd been living alone together for three months and a half. Somehow, in all the time they'd lived with Tina, Mike and Alice, Kurt had managed to miss the fact that Blaine was clean freak. Like. A clean freak. Kurt had always considered himself a tidy person, but in those three months and half, when compared to his boyfriend, he was a downright slob. But that wasn't the problem – the problem was Blaine's tendency to pick up his slack (which would've been nonexistent for anyone else's standards) and then spew off little passive-aggressive comments about doing all the housework on his own.

On January 11th of 2018 it all blew up into one of the biggest fights they ever had, and boundaries had been set into place. Blaine had been forbidden to do Kurt's house chores, and Kurt was given an (almost) reasonable house chores timetable and a tolerance of two days for each forgotten chore – which resulted moderately well and only brought upon minor squabbles and fights every other month. After Blaine hit fame, they eliminated the problem altogether by hiring help – especially necessary because both of them were working a lot of hours and having moved into a bigger, nicer apartment that begged to be pristine 100% of the time.

However, for the last couple of years, whenever Blaine would spend his so–called "regroup and consolidate" couple of months at home working the few little ideas and melodies floating around in his head into mostly consistent songs to then take to the studio to work into a new album, the help would be put on hold because he couldn't stand the thought of sitting at his piano, writing or taking any time to relax if there was someone in his house cleaning for him. In fact, before this decision was reached, Blaine would find himself, more often then not, joining the cleaning lady in the chores and basically cutting her hours in half, which helped no one. When the sweet lady complained about it, Kurt had almost pulled his own hair out before telling Blaine he was bordering on clinically insane and telling him, "But you grew up with a maid! This is insane! You should be a slob of a brat!" to which Blaine replied "I hated it then, too, and you thought it was adorable how I was friends with the help when I told you that!", to which Kurt replied (yelled), "You made it seem like you just watched TV with her! I didn't realize you were doing their job for them and that it could actually be problematic!".

So, Kurt takes a few minutes to grind his teeth and mutter under his breath about the insufferableness of Mister Tidy Up. It's no point arguing over it – it's become a moot point in their relationship, and even though it's never reached the climax of January 2018 (they didn't talk for two full days and there were lots of doors slamming, and loud dishwashing late at night, and insufferable vacuuming at dawn) ever again, it's still not a fight worth having if it's avoidable. And for now it is – Blaine's scheduled to go into studio in two weeks, and everything will go back to the blissful mode of housekeeper then.

Still, with something as simple as a pristine kitchen, Kurt's weekend of loving bliss is over.

He makes breakfast, as originally planned, but if he takes little notice of the noise he's making and if the pans and pot are clanking too loudly, it's mostly voluntary.

 _What's he gonna be like when we have kids_ , Kurt can't help think (and sing song) while he bangs the pan extra hard on the stove, and there will be smelly diapers, and toys everywhere, and no time to do things as often as he does, and… and basically Kurt just grimaces thinking of Blaine's adjustment to the pragmatic side of having kids. They may have had a practice run with Alice, but they were glorified babysitters, and Tina and Mike were very responsible cleaning after their kid. Sure, there was a little bit more to do, but they were four housemates and a kid, and one of them was a clean freak in disguise (in retrospect Kurt should've seen the signs, but they were all so enamored with the new baby, Blaine especially, that he always assumed Blaine was just very enthusiastic about it and the domesticity of it).

That January, Tina laughed for hours when Kurt vented to her about the fight, and asked him how he could have missed the fact that his boyfriend was a raging lunatic, because apparently everyone else had noticed it.

Kurt's smiling slightly at the memory of Tina's loud, obnoxious barks of laughter, when Blaine appears from the bedroom. He doesn't have enough time to wipe it off his face, so he involuntarily greets his husband with a small smile. Blaine grins.

"Oh breakfast!" Blaine coos, hurrying over. "This is such a nice surprise, love. I can't remember the last time you cooked us breakfast!"

Kurt could punch him. He really could.

"I'm sorry if I don't usually wake up at the crack of dawn like you." Kurt mumbles.

"Oh, love, no, that's not what I meant." Blaine tells him sweetly, clearly still sleepy enough to miss the level of Kurt's passive aggressiveness. "Thank you for breakfast, it smells wonderful. Do you want me to set the table, or do you want to eat here?"

"Whatever you want." Kurt shrugs.

Blaine circles his arms around Kurt's waist, from behind, hooking his chin over his shoulder, "Or we could totally eat in bed," he purrs. "I'm gonna change the sheets later today, anyway."

Kurt closes his eyes and sighs. "Bed it is."

"Yaaay!" Blaine sing songs softly, his voice still a little hoarse from sleep, and starts about preparing the trays. It would be adorable if Kurt was in the mood to appreciate it.

They eat in silence for a while, Blaine feeding Pirate little scraps of bacon and mimicking her meows every once in a while, before Kurt, despite better judgment, can't help himself.

"I couldn't help but notice that all my chores for this weekend are already done."

To his surprise Blaine stops chewing and blushes. He doesn't assume that haughty air he usually does right before he says "Yes, well, _someone_ had to."

Instead, he swallows slowly, looks up from under his eyelashes and sheepishly smiles. "I'm sorry…?"

Kurt is a little thrown for a loop, so he just frowns.

"I got creatively stuck and I had to distract myself, that's all."

"Huh." Kurt attempts a smile. "I did not see that coming."

Blaine rolls his eyes but laughs. "I told you, we're past that. I'm not going down the path of idiocy again, I promised, and I'm keeping it."

"We made that promise years ago and-"

"I'm keeping it _now_." Blaine says with a slightly less amused tone. "I really am."

Kurt scoffs.

"What? It's true! I've been very, very good about it this last year, haven't I? I only left like two notes for Mrs. Nowak since last November, and I only redid her chores that one time she cleaned the windows all wrong, and even you agreed that she had to have mistaken the detergents or something because it was just all wrong, and since she's been gone this is the first time I've done your chores for you. I'm _super_ chill."

Kurt looks over at him skeptically, Blaine replies with a quirked eyebrow before he smiles. "Fine. Let's not change the sheets at all. Not for another _two_ days." Kurt chuckles, signaling his disbelief. "And I will not wash a single dish this week. From Monday through Friday, I won't even put it in the dishwasher. I won't." Kurt squints, and smirks. " _And_ -"

"Okay, that's a deal – if you manage that, I'll believe you."

"Oh, thank god," Blaine gasps, with wide eyes. "Because there's not much else I'd be able to compromise on."

Kurt can't help laughing, his anger unwinding almost completely. "I'm eagerly awaiting the day we have kids and you're faced with a house full of toys and food everywhere, and painted walls and shoes on couches. I'm just… waiting for it, so I can have a good hearty laugh."

Blaine eyes him for a moment, his own smile slipping slightly but not completely. "Well, I'm kind of counting on you to keep me sane, when that day comes," he finally says after a full minute's pause. "Like, just slap me and tell me to knock it off, and stuff."

"Hey, if you do survive two more days without changing the sheets and a full week of being at my mercy for the dishes… Then I think there's hope for you after all, no slaps needed."

"You'll have faith in me if I survive the week?" Blaine chuckles, and then very slowly picks up an orange slice and lets a drop of juice fall on the crispy white sheet between them.

Kurt watches the stain grow and settle and then he raises his eyes to meet Blaine's, where he's looking at him expectantly, smiling and biting his lip with the cheekiest expression a grown man can muster. "I have all the faith in you, Bee."

They spend the rest of their Sunday alternating between sex and researching ideas for a baby shower. Kurt wants to go all out and Blaine doesn't try to dissuade him too hard, either. They realize, already buried deep in open tabs for party and gift ideas, that they should probably check with Mike and Tina if it really is their job to throw the baby shower; and then suffer in anticipation of the (unlikely) possibility that they might not want them to do it.

They pull themselves out of the unnecessary funk by showing each other the fruits of their weekly labor – Blaine plays some pieces and bits of songs he has in the works so Kurt will give him an honest opinion, and then Kurt does the same with some sketches for the new line.

Finally, they end up on the couch, watching a couple of episodes of the newest show Blaine is trying very hard not to get completely addicted to, lest he glue his face to the TV and forget all about songwriting, and once Kurt's eyes are droopy they call it a night and start getting ready for bed.

Kurt teases Blaine about the stain, but Blaine all but grins, lays his cheek on it, closes his eyes and wiggles into a comfortable sleeping position. After a moment he opens one eye, to check on Kurt's reaction, finding him smiling exasperatedly, but fondly, and he looks damn proud of his antics.

On Monday, Kurt gets home and finds a stack of two plates on the sink – they're thoroughly scraped but clearly not even rinsed – he does so, and puts them in the dishwasher. On Tuesday, the stack has two plates and a bowl, which he adds to the other plates and notices the cooking instruments and the pot there – but he refrains from teasing Blaine about it because their agreement had been specifically about dishes only. On Wednesday, there's only one plate in the sink, but then there's an empty plate with leftover toast crumbs next to the idiot on the couch, and Kurt notices Blaine's proud little smirk when he picks it up and takes it to the kitchen. It's not until that night that he realizes Blaine hasn't changed the sheets yet, either, even though it's been more than two days. On Thursday, the sheets have been changed, but the dishes are in the sink and the kitchen floor isn't mopped. On Friday, there are no plates at all, and Kurt is about to point it out when he notices that the house is empty and there's a note on the fridge saying " _Went for late lunch with Wes. Will go grocery shopping afterwards. There's a load of colored laundry already in the machine, please press start as soon as you get home. Love, Bee_ ". Kurt smiles and goes to press start on the washing machine just as the front door opens to a Blaine buried in grocery bags.

Kurt waits until he's finished cleaning up after dinner to concede Blaine's victory.

"It seems you behaved above expectations," he says as he sits next to Blaine on the couch.

Blaine smiles.

"Although it proves very little, because you're just stubborn and this was very specific and very limited."

Blaine scoffs and rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything else. He turns the sound on the TV up a notch and then moves closer to Kurt, curls up against his side, tightening the blanket around them and devoting his attention almost entirely to the episode playing.

Halfway through the episode, while Blaine is fast-forwarding through commercials, Kurt makes another of his "this is a Friday night and we should be out getting hammered and being young" jokes but Blaine doesn't really laugh. He just shrugs, keeps his eyes on the TV and says, "I thought we were adults now."

"We don't have to be old adults, though…" Kurt counters with a playful twist of his nose.

Blaine's brow furrows slightly, barely perceptible, before he says, "You can if you want to… You can call Rachel or whoever and see if they're up for it, but I'm really comfortable here and I'm kind of over those nights on a regular basis."

Kurt takes pause. Blaine's words feel a little bit like a test – not one where you can either pass or fail, but one where his answer will definitely matter one way or another. It feels like Blaine is probing for something, and Kurt's not sure what it is that he most wants to hear. So, he settles for honesty.

"I was just joking, Bee. I'm good."

Blaine nods, and then snuggles in closer and kisses Kurt's shoulder. Maybe it really was a pass/fail test after all and he passed it.

"We should offer to take Alice out tomorrow… take her to a museum or something." Blaine says softly after another few minutes with nothing but the dialogue on the TV filling the room.

"I'd like that."

Blaine breathes very deeply but says nothing else. Kurt frowns, feeling a little out of depth.

"Blaine…" he fumbles until he finds the remote and pauses the episode. "I… Is there something wrong?"

With a small frown, Blaine shakes his head.

"Are you sure? You seem a little… I don't know. But I guess this week was a little weird. With everything that happened and then me pressuring you about the house chore thing and… It felt weird, right? This week…?"

"Maybe a little…" Blaine shrugs.

"I'm sorry, Bee, I-"

"No, it wasn't… it wasn't about that. I don't…-"

"I think maybe I rode you a little too hard about the-"

"Kurt, really, it's _really-_ … I know I have to change my attitude about it, and I will. I'm working on it, I really am."

"And I made it into some kind of joke, I made fun of you when you're clearly making-"

Blaine laughs softly, "Kurt, I swear, I'm not the least bit mad at you for Sunday or for this week, or for anything. I swear. And _I_ was the one who made the bet."

Kurt can't help feel like something is still gnawing at their edges. Maybe it's just one of their disconnected days, after all (and it's always the strangest thing when Blaine is the one with the distance and Kurt the one chasing and learning to back down). Kurt swallows and ignores the small weight that settles on his gut.

"You know I like you, right?"

Blaine cracks a smile and huffs a small laugh. "Yeah, I like you too."

"A lot."

"Very much."

"I actually love you." Kurt ends up saying, even though those are usually Blaine's words.

Blaine frowns for a split second, but keeps his easy, soft smile in place. He leans forward to kiss him, slow and calm. "I love you too, Kurt." Kurt feels a small pang of guilt at how rarely he hears that exact sentence – I love you, _too_. The disconnected days get to him that way, when he comes back down to earth and he thinks of all the things he could feel guilty for but Blaine rarely lets him.

Maybe, this was a disconnected week and he's coming back down now. He's confused, but at least Blaine kissed him with gentle affection, like always, and his eyes are honest in their promise that things are okay.

"Can we go to bed?" Kurt finds the back of Blaine's neck with his hand and pulls him close to kiss the line of his jaw and make his intentions clear.

Blaine turns the TV off and Kurt stands feeling a little less shaky.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Blaine hesitating next to the couch, where the quilt they were using is messily splayed and not properly folded. He reaches for it before he takes a deep breath and lets it be.

Kurt smiles and thinks he really lucked out on the husband department.

The next day they call Tina who easily agrees to let Alice spend the day with them. They take her to one of the special exhibits at the Natural History Museum and then spent the rest of their afternoon in Central Park. It's surprisingly easy for Blaine to go by unnoticed, if he doesn't shave for a couple of days, and leaves his hair completely free of product, wearing the classic sunglasses, and keeping his outfit discreet and simple, so they do manage a perfectly pleasant and unperturbed day of fun. There's some weird free group dance class happening and, while Kurt gives up on it pretty fast, Blaine and Alice spend the full two hours trying their best to follow directions and catch the dance moves. Kurt just watches them laughing and kind of enjoying all of the second hand embarrassment.

Tina and Mike join them at around five o'clock with a picnic basket for an early dinner, and they call up Rachel and Wes, who probably think they're very subtle, arriving five minutes apart. Sam and Mercedes join them almost an hour later, bearing dessert in the form of fruit and cakes.

Kurt ends up mostly watching as Blaine and Alice try to throw grapes into each other's mouth, laughing and failing more than succeeding.

When suddenly, Alice jumps to her feet, taps Blaine's shoulder with a pleased shriek, "You're it!" and takes off running, Blaine scrambling to go after her, Kurt has a realization that floods his stomach with cold panic.

He hasn't seen Blaine this overly, hysterically happy in months, except for a week ago, in their friends' home, tipsy and celebrating.

Could it be possible that they've been having disconnected months and Kurt didn't even notice?

Kurt knows Blaine isn't unhappy. He really isn't. But his husband is an energetic, bubbly, laugh-out-loud and jump-with-excitement type of person, and however of a synonym for happy mellow may be, it's just not what Blaine is supposed to be like, and something has to be causing it. Who's to say mellow won't turn into melancholic, and melancholic will turn into sad, and sad will turn into depression? Blaine may like to pretend his teenage depression is a thing of the past and will never come back, but Kurt's heard enough about it (a lot of it from his parents too, because Blaine still avoids the subject when he can) to know that it's been close to happening again a number of times over the years they've been together.

He rubs the bridge of his nose as he tries not to go into a whirlwind of guilt over not noticing it sooner. He pushes himself to his feet, brushing some of the grass off his butt, and then takes of in a quick jog towards the two monkey butts chasing each other.

The three of them run and run, until Alice is gasping and red faced, and sick of Kurt always catching her too fast with a cackle. She goes straight back to her parents and Mike mouths, thankful, "She's gonna sleep so well tonight…!"

They sit close together, and Kurt can't help maneuvering them until he has Blaine sitting back against his chest, and arms around him, so he can kiss the back of his neck over and over again. Blaine turns around with a quizzical smile every once in a while, but never says anything, and most often twist his neck just so, offering Kurt as much skin and possible.

"Jeez, guys," Tina throws a piece of muffin at them. "Get a room."

Kurt sticks his tongue out, and Blaine chuckles softly and buries himself deeper into Kurt.

Going back home, the group separates and the two of them walk with Tina, Mike and Alice most of the way, since they live in the same neighborhood. Kurt ends up giving Alice a piggy ride, but she's silent enough that he manages to talk to Mike and hear all about his new projects and prospects for the year – he's most excited about his gig choreographing and having a very, very minor role in the upcoming Footloose remake. He's still mostly working in the videoclip market – both as choreographer and dancer – so it's a really big deal that could open a lot of doors for him.

Once they get to the first stop, Mike and Tina's, they wait at the door for Blaine and her, who've fallen behind, walking at a much slower pace as they talk.

"Just give me like fifteen months and I'm all yours, cupcake." Tina says just as they turn the corner.

Blaine's cheeks go red and he glances at Kurt, as if nervously checking if he heard that. Kurt opens his mouth to ask for context when Blaine interrupts, reaching up to pull Alice down and kiss her soundly. "I'll see you soon," he says, eyes a little restless.

Kurt falls into the motions of kisses, goodbyes and vague planes for the following weekend, and waits until the building's door is closed and Blaine is, possibly solely out of instinct, taking his hand to re-start walking.

"What was Tina talking about?"

Blaine shrugs that little way he always does when he wants to downplay something serious – the way he always does when he thinks people will think he's being silly. "Nothing. She was just being Tina…"

Kurt frowns, not buying it for a second. "Blaine," he says, stopping them altogether. "Are you okay?"

"I told you, I'm-"

"But I don't believe you," Kurt counters stepping a little closer. "I was watching you this afternoon and I realized I haven't seen you this happy in a long time."

Blaine shakes his head with a confused frown. "I'm happy."

"Okay, let me rephrase it – I haven't seen you this joyful in months. And I'm worried."

Blaine smiles and lets out a long breath before he pulls at Kurt's hands so that they're chest to chest and toes to toes. He kisses him. "You shouldn't be."

"I just need to know what's going on."

"Nothing's going on. I think… maybe spending two months alone at home got to me a little bit this time. That's all."

It takes all of Kurt's will power to let it go. He knows Blaine like the back of his hands, he knows Blaine will eventually find a way to talk to him about it soon enough. It's just that Blaine likes to find the perfect words and sometimes it takes him a little extra time for him to do it, and Kurt just has to trust that he will have his answer at some point.

The answer arrives the next Thursday. Kurt gets home a little extra late, and a little extra tired. Blaine is on the couch, in his briefs, playing and replaying the same little melody (the same one from two weeks ago – soft, kind of happy, maybe a little jittery). And there are papers everywhere again – papers that Kurt knows will disappear as soon as Blaine decides to stop for the day.

Blaine looks up and looks like a cat caught doing something wrong. Kurt falters in the doorway, and Blaine expression morphs into a welcoming smile.

"Hey, love," he says. "How was your day?"

"A little grueling…" Kurt admits, choosing to let it go for now.

Blaine unfolds his legs and slides of the couch. "I will go run you a bath and make dinner while you're in there and we will turn in early. How about that?"

"Don't you want to work on that?" Kurt gestures towards the keyboard, before he bends over to take his boots off.

"I'm stuck." Blaine shrugs. "I can't find a good bridge and… yeah, anyway, I'm a little stuck, and I…" he stops himself, looking conflicted.

"You…?"

"I'm just… in a weird place in my head right now," he looks like he regrets admitting to it right away.

"Oh…?"

"I…" Kurt can see the way words come and go through Blaine's mind and mouth, but none of them end up turning into reality, and at some point Blaine just deflates, scratching the back of his neck and finally mumbling, "I just want to make you happy."

Kurt frowns, "I am happy."

"No, I mean… right now. I wanna take care of you. Like – I just – let me just run you a warm bath while you get undressed," Blaine says, voice rushed and a little lost as he starts towards the bathroom in a ramble. "I went on a shopping spree the other day at Lush, and I think you're gonna love some of those…"

Kurt can't quite make himself move, and by the time he does there's water running somewhere in the bathroom and Blaine's still rambling about bath bombs and cinnamon soap. Kurt looks at the pieces of paper and the keyboard. He hates that he does it – he doesn't like reading things Blaine hasn't personally asked him to. But at some point he finds himself taking the piece of paper sitting atop the keyboard. The one that seems newer and closer to final, with lyrics with fewer scratches on it.

 _(A#, F#m, Bbm, E# (4x))_

 _I don't know if you've noticed_

' _Cause you're not always around_

 _But a strange sort of sound_

 _Has taken over the house_

 _Silence, no little feet, can't hear them at all_

 _Padding barefoot across the hall_

 _From the bedroom, empty, expecting,_

 _To me on this couch, longingly writing_

 _(just writing)_

 _The silence of no little hands and knees_

 _Crawling unannounced onto our bed frame_

 _Settling next to your chest and under my arm_

 _At seven, at six, hell, five am_

 _Easily highjacking our mornings of love_

 _Lovingly steeling our nights of sleep_

 _(our nights of sleep)_

 _And claiming for them, with giggles and tickles,_

 _Our whole love so strong_

 _So deep_

 _(A#, F#m, D#, E# (2x), E#... A#, F#m, D#, E#)_

 _I don't know if you've noticed_

 _All these missing sounds_

 _But the other day you told me_

 _About the catalogue you found_

 _And the time machine you wanted_

 _I don't know if you've noticed_

 _This strange sort of silence_

 _But the other day you told me_

 _About those dresses too little for her_

 _And I wonder…_

 _If maybe you noticed_

 _(… if maybe)_

The whole second part is scratched and what looks like an idea for a bridge is as well, followed by a newer, less scratched bridge and what Kurt recognizes as an altered chorus.

 _(Bbm, D#, F#m, E# (2x))_

 _And I'm trying so hard_

 _I can't find the words to ask you_

 _what will it feel like_

 _if you say no_

 _As long as it's_

' _not yet'_

 _maybe I'll be fine_

 _maybe I'll be fine (just fine)_

 _(A#, F#m, D#, E# (2x)_ _A)_

 _I don't know if you've noticed_

 _This strange sort of silence_

 _But the other day they told us_

 _They're growing with one more_

 _And I know it's not a race_

 _I know we set our own pace_

 _But I wonder… but I wonder…_

 _If maybe you noticed_

 _(please notice)_

Kurt's frozen for a moment as he takes in the unfinished, unpolished lyrics in his hand. The paper shakes and he realizes his own hand is shaking.

It finally clicks. The last two weeks make sense now. The last couple of months make sense now.

Before he realizes he started moving again, he's by the bathroom door, watching Blaine sitting on the edge of the bathtub, checking the water temperature and debating the pros and cons of each thing in the Lush box open on the toilet.

Kurt interrupts his mindless ramble. "Yes."

Blaine stops talking and looks up in confusion. "Yes what? I was asking which of these you-"

Kurt opens his mouth and has no idea what other words to use. Blaine notices the paper in his hand, and his entire face goes red with the loveliest blush that makes Kurt's chest tight with how much he likes, loves, wants, needs that man.

"Yes!" he says again. The word ends in disbelieving laughter.

Blaine freezes. "What? I- really?!"

"Yes! Yes, yes! A thousand times yes!"

Blaine is looking up at him with wide, bright eyes. "Really?!" his voice breaks and thickens. "You want-"

"Yes!" Kurt closes the distance between them in two strides and kisses him so suddenly that Blaine topples back into the half-full tub with a splash and a shriek. Kurt only hesitates for a moment before he follows him covering his soaked body with his own, and feeling the warm water envelop him in all his fully-clothed glory. He resumes the kissing.

"We should definitely start trying right now." He yanks at Blaine's briefs, causing him to throw his head back with loud barks of laughter.

 _(A.N.:_ _Guys, guys, guys! Notthetoothfairy didn't just beta this, as usual, but she actually turned my lousy ass poem into a SONG. :) so all the thanks to her magnificent self!)_


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